I haven't ever really been a "cat person," but I like animals and a few months back this nice little stray cat showed up on our doorstep and we started feeding him a little bit cause he seemed hungry and eventually we just decided he was our cat. He's always been really calm and lays around a lot, but last night he started looking really lethargic and hadn't touched his food or water that I could tell (he's an outside cat - with an insulated house - but doesn't usually roam that we know of). Today he's eaten and drunk a little bit while I've been watching him closely cause I'm worried about him, and he looks a little better but still is staying put, laying in the same spot and being less active than normal. I can't see that he's puked or had diarrhea, but I also don't see that he'd peed or pooped (as much as I can tell). I don't see injuries on him either. He's not coughing or runny-nosed.

We don't live near any emergency pet care places and all the vet offices I've called are closed for the weekend. Does anyone know what more I can do for him over the weekend? Do cats get sick and recover with their own strength like humans do or is it a case of if you can tell they are sick then they are in really bad shape? Maybe he feels worse than he looks?? (I've had tons of dogs and it was hard to tell when they are in pain because of how they hide it....don't know if cats are similar?)

Any ideas? I don't want him to be suffering.

My son and DIL's cat died a few days ago because of a urinary tract infection. I don't know what the symptoms were, though.

Cats do get sick...Keep an eye on him until tommorow. He probably is just a little under the weather..If he is a stray or spends alot of time outdoors it could be worms or a parasite..Watch out for anything like that it could be passed to you. He's probably ok...Most cats I have known are pretty lethargic, especially in the winter.

Cats can get devastating pulmonary diseases that won't affect you, but can kill them. Time is of the essence, so if you can make the cat feel better through the weekend by getting him inside and caring for him and then getting him off to a vet on Monday, you will have helped him a great deal and probably done all you can. Cats are great and well worth the effort, I think. I'd do it for any cat or any dog. Or any other animal I could somehow help, for that matter.

I agree about getting him inside and taking care of him. Since he's outdoors you probably wouldn't know if he's urinated in an inappropriate place. When they do that it's often a sign of a UTI.

Might be a fur ball. Catalax could help.

If you've committed to making him "your cat" then you need to take him to a vet. Could be worms, in which case he needs to be treated and get his vaccinations too.

I had a scrawny stray show up on my doorstep and I fed him some tuna. 6 years later he is the coolest cat ever and we love having his companionship.

Get him to a vet as soon as possible, cats do not have a very effective immune system and need help, especially with infections.

Yes, we took him in after he decided to stay and he got his rabies and some combo shot (can't find the certificate but I remember on the certificate only some of the boxes of the list of diseases the vaccine covered where checked and some were not, so it must not have included protection for everything a cat might be susceptible to?). The vet also gave what was described as a strong single-dose worm treatment medicine because, though the cat was acting well, we'd actually seen a worm. Vet told us it's a good idea for outside cats to repeat that pill every year - hasn't been a year since giving that the last time, however. I hope the little bit of improvement he's shown today is a good sign until I can find a vet open.

OK, cool. In that case I'd say he just has a virus or ate something bad. Cats are pretty rugged. Keep an eye on the little guy.

If it's cold where you are, maybe make him a warm bed use an old box and blanket or straw.

You may think you decided he's your cat, I suspect he decided you were his humans first. :)

There is a good chance he'll perk up, if you can tempt him to eat it may help. Let him lick cat food or baby food from your finger.

If you can look in his mouth, watch out for mouth ulcers (especially on his tongue) as that can be a sign of kidney failure.

I've had cats who have been lethargic and not moved for a day or so and have bounced back a few days later, as right as rain.

I hope he feels better soon, he's lucky to have you. He chose well.

Cats are good at not showing how sick they are so it's very hard to tell if they are just a bit under the weather or if it's something worse. One of mine suddenly started acting very lethargic and we took her to the vet. She was borderline diabetic. The vet had us change her food and she's been fine ever since. Your cat could have a number of things or just be feeling a bit under the weather. It's really hard to tell sometimes. If you notice a change in their routine, there is probably something going on. Hopefully it is not anything that needs immediate attention and you can have him checked out at the vet on Monday.

I've had many cats over the years and I'm getting better at recognizing it when they don't feel right.

I hope kitty feels better soon and let me know if I can be of further help.

I am not a cat expert but I have owned a cat for six years. So I can tell you some stuff I learned.

My cat (Domino) was obtained from an animal rescue place at age 8 weeks. The intent was for Domiino to be my daughter's cat and be a companion to her 10-month-old cat (Patches).

Domino went to my daughter's house on a Sunday afternoon. Right away it was evident that Patches would not get along with Domino. But that's another story. By Tuesday morning Domino had diarrhea. Daughter didn't have the money or time to take Domino to a vet. By the following Sunday Domino was not eating or drinking water. So I took Domino home with me.

I found a "cat health advice" place on the Internet and paid them $10 for some advice. I was told that diarrhea disrupts the electrolyte balance of the cat's body. If that is not immediately treated it can cause death. I was told to go to a drug store and buy some liquid Pedialyte (for children). I got a squeeze dropper from the pharmacist and then started feeding Domino the Pedialyte from the dropper.

I was told to feed the Pedialyte for 15 minutes, then stop for 15 minutes, and then repeat that routine for 8 to 10 hours. I also bought some canned kitten food and took that home. After four hours of feeding the Pedialyte (15 minutes on, 15 minutes off), I mixed some Pedialyte with the canned food to get a mixture that I could draw into the dropper. Then I started dropper-feeding Domino the catfood-Pedialyte mixture.

After about eight hours Domino had perked up and was obviously feeling a lot better. I fed him more catfood-Pedialyte during the night and first thing on Monday morning I took him to my veterinarian.

The vet said that what I had been doing was exactly the right treatment. They ran a fecal test and determined that Domino was infected with Coccidia parasite. Information here:

http://www.cat-world.com.au/coccidiosis-in-cats

The vet sold me a medicine called Albon and I fed that to Domino for a week. That eliminated the Coccidia.

When Domino was about four years old he started vomiting up his food. I was feeding him a dry kibble cat food. For three days he couldn't keep the food down. I took him to the vet and they did a lot of tests on Domino. The vet bill was $450 for the one day of an exam and testing. The tests did not find anything wrong. The vet suggested that I stop feeding the dry kibble and switch to canned cat food.

I made that switch and Domino did just fine with the canned cat food. He has been totally healthy since that time.

My suggestion is that you buy the child Pedialyte and dropper feed it to your cat. And then mix the Pedialyte with canned cat food, to a liquid consistency that can by drawn into the dropper, and then feed that. This will hopefully get your cat somewhat healthy again and then you should take the cat to your vet on Monday. Try to collect a fresh stool sample to take along.

Good luck.

Keep him hydrated until you can get him to a vet. Pedeolyte administered through an oral syringe may be necessary. Food is less important in the short term.

Check to see if your vet has a weekend clinic. Mine does. I don't think you're going to be able to know what's wrong until you can get him in there. Best of luck to you. I hope he's okay and gets better soon. He sounds like a cute little critter.

Even though the local vets may be closed they should have emergency coverage on weekends - whether they have an answering service that pages them or another vet that covers weekend calls.

I wouldn't wait till Monday. the cat can go w/o food for a bit but dehydration is very dangerous. I second the Pedialyte suggestion until you can see a vet.

Call the vet's office and listen to the recorded message. There might be directions for emergency service.

I've seen cats get lethargic due to an infection or a lack of hydration. Keep your kitty inside and observe him closely. Go over his coat and look closely at his skin and his paws, checking for wounds. Sometimes wounds are hard to see through the fur. Get him into the vet ASAP.

Good luck and let us know how he progresses.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2013 04:09PM by summer.

At the minimum, I would bring him in and seeing if he is eating, drinking and eliminating.If he is, It can probably wait until Monday.If not look for an animal emergency room. Most vets have the number for one on their phone. Some vets are open on Saturday.

You defintitely need to wach to make sure he's urinating. If he's not, that's a sign of a serious UTI or kidney infection that can't continue through the weekend and you need to get him seen asap.

Agree it could be a possible UTI. If he hasn't been vaccinated though, he could have feline leukemia or FHIV. Poor kitty. :,(

I hope you can help him out.

Neither of these things are a death sentence though. Especially FHIV+ If it's one of these DO take it into the vet. The vet might be able to help it while other kitties might be able to recover from small things.

It might be a minor infection, if he's already getting better. But I would take him to the vet's asap anyway. It has already been mentioned that dehydration is a serious problem, so if you can do something about that, that's great. I just hope he hasn't got any internal injuries from being hit by a car or falling (cat's can hurt themselves falling, despite their ability to turn in the air!). Unfortunately poisoning is also a possibility, he may have e.g. eaten a poisoned rat.

Also, keep him warm. Being small animals cats lose body heat quite quickly if something is seriously wrong, and they appreciate warmth in any case.

Cats are even better than dogs in hiding their pain and discomfort, so unfortunately, as someone already pointed out, it's pretty impossible to judge the seriousness of their condition by their behaviour.

However, and this is the good news, cats really truly have nine lives. They can pull through the most horrendous injuries and diseases. And obviously - hopefully! - he may just be feeling a little under the weather, like we all do from time to time.

My cat turns 16 in the summer, and I hope the cat and you, his staff, will have many happy years ahead of you!

A Finn (unregistered lurker)

I tried a bunch of suggestions. Some of them he was pretty intent on not cooperating and some of them got a little fluid into him. I decided to make him some beef stock (from scratch so it's just beef and water without a bunch of salt and ingredients I've never heard of listed on a can) and he went to town on that. Drank a bunch and wanted a refill. After that he also decided he'd have a little more canned cat food. After that had had time to settle into him, I checked on him again and he got up and trotted over to me like usual when I come into view, he went for a little walk about with me, and his eyes look more like himself.....up till now they just looked different, not that the eyes were sympatomatic with goo or anything, but he just looked sick in the eyes when he looked at you. Anyway, I'm watching hoping to see him pee, which he hasn't yet unless he sneaked one, but he's got a lot more pep and looks much more himself. I'll keep watching him closely, but hope this means he's on the mend. Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.

I don't know if anyone suggested this, but it's possible he got into a scrap with another cat and had a slight fever. That happened to my kitty a couple of years ago and she didn't want me to go near her or anything. I panicked, took her to the vet and left her overnight for observation. She was fine the next day and healed up ok.

Since it's been wintertime, I've move his insulated cat house inside the garage so his own house is at least sort of "inside" during the night. I had left the garage door open just a tad in the evening cause I didn't see him and I didn't want him to be locked out. Later I did hear some yowling from the garage and I immediately opened the door from the house into the garage and a strange cat that had obviously come in under the door I left ajar for my cat ran out of the garage like greased lightening. My cat was curled up inside his cat house and I checked him to see if he was cut up or anything, and he looked fine, but I wonder if something like that did happen. Even if he wasn't scratched, I wonder if hurt pride could also make a cat sulk a little? I had one really sweet dog who was such a people pleaser and super sensitive and he would sulk for a while (enough that you'd start to wonder if he wasn't feeling good) on the rare occasions that I had to get stern with him and say "no" in a voice that told him I really meant it.

Could have eaten something that disagreed with him. My dogs do that. If that is it and he is holding down food, he should be okyn

Sometimes cats get a urinary blockage from crystals in their urine. They can die from that. If he isn't peeing, that's dangerous.

I am a board-certified canine/feline veterinarian and I'd just like to suggest that everyone skip the list of what it "could be". The links to drugs and diseases is just as unhelpful. You need to get to a veterinarian and figure out what the cat HAS, not what it COULD HAVE (unless you're writing a book report). My two cents.

In the absence of definitive symptoms, we're pretty much left with about 2000+ possible diseases. Not very helpful. :)

If the kitty isn't feeling well and you're not sure what is going on, bringing him inside where you can warm him up a bit is great nursing care. Nursing care is where good medicine starts (and often ends).

Pedialyte is great but a lot of cats hate the stuff. Water is best if the cat won't take pedialyte. Most people try forcing water on cat and give them dribbles with a dropper. A 10 pound WELL cat needs about 206cc of water per day = 13.7 Tablespoons = 0.85 cups of water a day. Which is a lot to force feed a cat that has claws and teeth. A sick cat may need 2-3 times that much if they have any vomiting, diarrhea, or kidney problems.

Food choices - the broth is a great idea. Other options - sometimes cats that are feeling poorly have nausea or a shifting appetite throughout the day that forces us to try lots of different foods. We'll try 5 or six different kinds of canned foods (warmed up slightly), tuna, chicken, turkey, etc. Frequently baby food (meat flavors) work really well in sick cats to get them eating a gain. No problem for a few days. Sometimes what they will eat at one meal they won't at the next. That can be a side effect of nausea or illness. So sometimes we just plop down 4 or 5 different things at a time on different plates. Some cats do NOT like canned food at all, so always offer dry foods as well.

Most cats will eat better if you pet them vigorously and talk to them while putting them directly in front of the food (and we have studies to prove this! - silly huh?).

Hope this helps some...

....and as far as I understand it, he's up to date on his protection from those. But I've been a little nervous about handling him a lot because I didn't know if he is likely to be contagious to humans (if a germ turns out to be the culprit). Am I fairly safe in that regard, that my family is not likely to catch most ailments considered contagious that a cat would have? As much as I like him, I love my kids way more. (I'm keeping the kids away from him and doing the care myself, but still somewhat concerned.)

Where in the world do you live? There are not a whole lot of zoonotic diseases transferable to humans from cats but I can try to answer the question a little better if I know where you are approximately...

Western U.S.

There are not a lot of things you can catch from a cat, but there are a few...this list is probably not complete, but I'll give it a go.

Rabies - which is pretty rare except in bat/wild animal populations. The vaccine is extremely effective against it.

Parasites - roundworms, a rare tapeworm primarily found in the four corners area of Utah/AZ/NM/CO, and hookworms primarily from the SouthEast. Wash your hands after handling cats and dogs or litter boxes, wear gloves when gardening, and don't eat cat poop. Deworm your cats at least yearly, but more often as directed by the DVM in your area of the country/world. In some areas needs to be done much more often.

Toxoplasmosis - transmitted by stool contamination from infected cats - primarily a risk to pregnant women since it can cause abortions. Don't clean litter boxes and wear gloves when gardening. Outdoor cats use your flower gardens as their litter boxes and outdoor cats are by far the most likely to be infected. Uncommon disease by why take any risks?

Ringworm - Ringworm is a fungus of the same group as causes athlete's foot. Does not causes rings in cats or dogs. Causes hair loss / alopecia in immune-suppressed humans / dogs / cats etc but rarely a danger to others. Cats can uncommonly be non-symptomatic carriers of the fungus. Often also found outside in the soil. Wash yer hands. Wash yer hands. Wash yer hands.

Plague - rarely cats can be infected with plague by being infected from a plague carrying rodent (in the Western U.S. usually a prairie dog). RARE. The cat usually has abscesses which unfortunately look just like the wounds caused by cat bites.

Chylettiella walking dandruff mites - will take a bite or two off a human, but don't live on us. Uncommon.

Fleas - don't mind biting people. Other than on the coasts, are fairly rare in the Western U.S. - depends on your region.

Lice - don't bite people. People have people lice, cats have cat lice, dogs have dog lice. Not a threat.

ADVICE:
Don't touch open wounds.
Don't touch "poop"
Don't touch vomit.
Don't touch urine.
Don't let children handle sick pets.
Don't let immune-suppressed people handle sick pets.
If you have gloves, use them when handling wastes/bodily fluids.
Wash your hands.
Wash your hands.
Wash your hands.
Just like people.

:)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2013 08:08PM by wwfsmd.

I set out a smorgasbord of choices for him like you were describing, food and drink, and he's sampled most of them, eaten/drank probably about what he typically does at this point, or even very slightly more, when you add all the swallows up, and he's looking even better and is getting more active....not quite himself still, but I feel better about getting him through the rest of the weekend.

Good to hear it. Keep working on everything and try to observe what you can so you can fill in the pertinent symptoms for your veterinarian on Monday.

Good luck!